The present invention relates to identifying users in a network environment. More particularly, the invention relates to providing individual, site-specific aliases for anonymous users accessing Internet websites.
Electronic exchange of data, such as occurs over the Internet or other online services, is becoming an increasingly important and common medium for the delivery of information, conducting commerce and general interpersonal communication. By way of example, users can purchase a wide array of products over the Internet, engage in discussions on almost any subject in various xe2x80x9cchatxe2x80x9d groups and find information on a practically unlimited range of topics. Similarly, content providers who operate the various websites available to users over the Internet, such as businesses, trade groups and others, are able to reach existing and potential customers or interested parties with product and service information, or simply promote a subject or hobby in which they are interested.
With the increasingly widespread use of electronic communications in society, it is perhaps not surprising that some individuals and entities make improper use of this medium. In some cases the improper use may involve fraud or other criminal behavior. In other cases, the improper use may simply be disruptive messages at a chat site. Whatever the nature of the improper use, it is necessary that such users be identifiable to legal authorities in criminal cases or to the site operator in the case of obnoxious behavior. Identification of the offending user allows a site-operator to block subsequent access by the user or may be the initial phase of criminal prosecution. Unfortunately, identification of an offending Internet user is not always an easy task.
The standard Internet identification system is the Internet Protocol address (IP address). An IP address is a unique identifier assigned to each direct link to the Internet. When a user with a direct link requests content contained at a site, the site must know the user""s IP address to send the requested content to the user who requested it. Thus, an offending user with a direct link to the Internet can be identified through his or her IP address. A site-operator can deny a specific user access to his or her site by refusing to send content to the user""s IP address. However, most users do not have a direct link to the Internet. Instead, most users connect to the Internet through a third party.
There are currently many entities providing access to the Internet through their direct links. One example is known as an xe2x80x9cOn-Line Servicexe2x80x9d (OLS). In addition to providing access to the internet, an OLS will usually also offer unique content and services to its xe2x80x9csubscribersxe2x80x9d that is not otherwise available on the Internet (or is only available to a user for an additional fee). A more common example is known as an xe2x80x9cInternet Service Providerxe2x80x9d (ISP). An ISP only provides its subscribers with access to the Internet (and perhaps related services such as e-mail, and personal websites). An ISP typically does not provide additional content beyond what is available over the Internet.
Another entity providing access to the Internet is the WEBTV(copyright) Internet access network, (WEBTV is a registered trademark of WebTV Networks, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.) Unlike most OLS""s and ISP""s which require a user to own a personal computer, the WEBTV system allows its subscribers to access the Internet using an ordinary television. WebTV Networks, Inc. provides the additional hardware and software necessary for the user to connect to the Internet and display websites on his or her television. WEBTV subscribers gain access to the Internet through a WEBTV Internet Server which has a plurality of direct links to the Internet. The WEBTV Internet Server also offers supplemental services, such as email, news reports, television program guides and enhanced access to certain websites.
Regardless of which type of Internet access provider is involved, when a user/subscriber is connected to the Internet through a third party, the user does not have a unique IP address. Instead, the Internet access provider assigns to the user one of the provider""s IP addresses which is not currently assigned to another subscriber. The assigned IP address identifies the user for the duration of the user""s Internet session. Once the user terminates the connection to the Internet, the previously assigned IP address is available for assignment to another of the Internet access provider""s subscribers. When the user subsequently connects to the Internet through the Internet access provider, the user will be assigned another IP address which usually will be different than the previous assigned IP address.
Thus, users who access the Internet through a third party do not have the same IP address each time they connect to the Internet. Consequently, the IP address only identifies the third party, not the individual users. While the third party might keep records of which subscriber used an IP address at a specific time to access a specific website, searching those records would be a laborious process. Furthermore, a website could not block one subscriber without blocking all subscribers of a particular third party.
In addition to IP addresses, another way that a site-operator can identify a user is through the use of an Internet xe2x80x9ccookie.xe2x80x9d A cookie is a piece of data which a site instructs the user""s Internet terminal to store in memory and then send back to the site each time the user accesses the site. If the site uses a different cookie value for each user, the site can recognize repeating users and refuse to communicate with users who are disruptive.
The limitation of the cookie method is that the site cannot determine the actual identity of the user unless the user volunteers the information. As a result, law enforcement agencies cannot identify users if the only information available is the user""s cookie value. In addition, most user terminals allow users to access the cookies stored on their user terminals and to either change or delete the cookies. Thus, a user who is blocked from accessing a site can defeat the blocking by deleting or changing his or her cookies.
In addition to the problems that users can create, site operators may perpetrate abuses as well. For instance, some site operators may infringe on users"" right to privacy by attempting to collect personal information about users. Other sites may compile lists of users who access the site to direct unsolicited advertising email to those users. In addition, two or more site-operators may try to correlate their cookie databases to find users who visit multiple sites. If successful, the site-operators can then track the user""s Internet xe2x80x9cbrowsingxe2x80x9d across several sites. By matching users through cookie values and sharing information gained about the users, site-operators might be able to determine the actual identity of users and target those users for direct-mail, etc.
Thus, it would be desirable to have a system which allows site-operators to recognize and block unwanted users while maintaining the anonymity of users. In addition, it would be desirable to have a system which allows law enforcement agencies to determine the identity of an anonymous user.
The present invention includes a system for allowing a computer network site, such as an Internet website, to recognize an anonymous user without revealing the identity of the user. The system involves generating a user alias based on the user""s identity and the computer network site such that it is computationally difficult to determine the user""s identity from the alias alone. Once the alias is generated, the computer network site is informed of the alias upon access of the site by the user. The computer network site may then block access to the site""s contents whenever it receives an alias associated with a disruptive user.